Archive for April, 2008

Apr 30 2008

Deerfield Doors

Published by Ilana under Historical

Historic Deerfield in Massachusetts has some famous doors. In 1760, a famous wood joiner named Samuel Partridge built a door for the house of Reverend John Williams. Many neighbors then sought to replicate its style. This original door is on display in the Flynt Center of Early New England Life, a museum maintained [...]

10 responses so far

Apr 25 2008

Soap, The Hard Way

Published by Ilana under Favorites, Historical, Writing

I was at Sturbridge Village last weekend (detecting a theme?) and there happened to be two costumed interpreters making soap, the old way. In an earlier post, I mentioned that the ashes from all those wood fires were saved for making soap. I had a vague idea of the process, but took the [...]

13 responses so far

Apr 23 2008

Favorite Authors (Part I)

Published by Ilana under Books

Last night I was contemplating the enormous amount of books I own (and the ones I wish to acquire) and their imminent move (the movers always sigh when they see the paperbacks, then groan when they see all our biology and medical texts). I was asked recently to list my favorite authors and why… [...]

7 responses so far

Apr 21 2008

Wireless Dog Fences…

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…And Their Consequences
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We have a sweet black lab that we trained to a wireless fence.
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The basic principle behind the thing is that there is an underground wire around your property that is linked to an electrode on a collar they wear. When the dog gets too close, the collar beeps a warning. If [...]

7 responses so far

Apr 19 2008

Open Hearth Cooking

Published by Ilana under Favorites, Historical, Writing

Wait for Their Return incorporates a lot of historical facts from the 1830s. To get the details as accurate as possible, I spent a huge amount of time reading and researching. The library has seen a lot of me this past year.
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I also made several trips to Sturbridge Village in order to [...]

9 responses so far

Apr 15 2008

Old houses

Published by Ilana under Historical, Writing

I love looking at the architecture of old houses and wondering what stories could lie within. What ghosts can be imagined to wander the rooms from years long past?

3 responses so far